Antioxidants constitute one popular class of supplements touted to have anti-aging powers. Such chemicals occur naturally in the body and in fruits and vegetables and are believed to neutralize free radicals. Proponents claim that if taken in sufficient quantities, antioxidant supplements will sop up the radicals and slow down or stop the processes responsible for aging. But eliminating all free radicals would kill us, because they perform certain necessary intermediary steps in biochemical reactions. Further, although epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the antioxidant vitamins E and C contained within the foods we eat may reduce the risk of cancer, macular degeneration and other disorders, no one has established that vitamin supplements containing antioxidants limit oxidative damage in the body or influence aging.
Like antioxidants, another fashionable anti-aging intervention, hormone replacement, has a plausible rationale. This strategy was first popularized early in the 20th century, when older men occasionally submitted to the grafting of testicles from goats or monkeys or received injections of macerated testicles. Today pure forms of hormones can be administered. The replacement strategy seems logical in principle because the blood levels of most hormones—among them melatonin, growth hormone, testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)—commonly decrease with age. Also, experiments on older men have demonstrated that some physical and physiological attributes that show declines over time, notably muscle mass and skin elasticity, respond favorably in the short term to growth hormone replacement.
On the other hand, hormones can cause worrisome side effects. In mice, for instance, delivery of melatonin increases the risk of tumor development, and the over-production of growth hormone leads to kidney problems, premature heart and lung failure, and an increased probability of early death. Human adults given growth hormone have suffered from acromegaly (excess bone growth) and carpal tunnel syndrome. Estrogen replace-
ment therapy may offer health benefits to some postmenopausal women; however, this form of therapy has recently been challenged and has risks of its own, such as breast cancer and blood clots. In short, hormone replacement therapy has a place in the treatment of specific age-associated disorders, but evidence that it affects the rate of aging is lacking.
Some people might wonder whether following today’s public health recommendations for diet and exercise can serve as a more natural Fountain of Youth. Good nutrition and regular exercise do reduce the risk of various diseases and, in that way, may extend the duration of life for many people—thereby serving as the best current prescription for a long and healthy life. As is true of other interventions, though, no one has shown that diet or exercise, or both, directly influences aging.
What Science Says We find it ironic that a phony anti-aging industry is proliferating today, because serious efforts to understand aging have advanced greatly in recent years. Biologists who work with yeast, roundworms, fruit flies and mice have extended life by manipulating the genes of those species. These genetic alterations did not affect what is believed to be an important hallmark of aging in a population (an exponential increase in the risk of dying with time after puberty), which means that the longevity extensions in those experiments cannot safely be interpreted as resulting from an intervention in the aging process. Nevertheless, further study of those genes could offer clues to the influences on longevity and to approaches that might postpone infirmity and age-related disorders.
Another avenue of research may also lead to true aging interventions. Investigators have known for decades that caloric restriction extends life and the duration of good health in all species in which it has been studied, as long as the diet includes enough nutrition for routine maintenance of the body. These findings suggest that caloric restriction might have similar effects in humans. Given that few people would ever reduce their food intake enough to lengthen their lives, biologists are now trying to discover the mechanism that underlies the benefits of caloric restriction and to find agents that might mimic those helpful effects in people without forcing them to go hungry.
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10 Comments
Add CommentResearchers should be giving dstudyR
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisResearchers should be giving intensive scrutiny to staphylococcus radiofurans for its ability to maintain DNA functionality in very high ionizing environments. Could give a few clues to effectively enhancing vitality in the aged.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishello buddy i read your comment i like it it's great comment dear i learn alot of things from your comment deaer i hope everybody likes your post dear thanx for this information
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Neil Johnson
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<a href="http://www.skincareproducts101.com">Skin Care Products</a>-Skin Care Products
hello buddy i read your comment i like it it's great comment dear i learn alot of things from your comment deaer i hope everybody likes your post dear thanx for this information
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Neil Johnson
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[url=http://www.skincareproducts101.com]Skin Care Products[/url]-Skin Care Products
I guarantee you, these scientist's are a bunch of old looking men! I personally can prove them wrong! The Fountain of Youth, really does exist! I am living proof!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDarius Wright, 50year old pres. Fountain of Youth, fitness and health, LLC
The fountain exists, its a dissapointing 9 dollars. It is a simple well. Nothing more. If you were wanting to see it, dont waste your time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSirtris Pharmaceuticals has this to say about their sirtuin research, which derived from caloric restriction studies and the gene complexes stimulated by that:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Sirtris is currently evaluating SRT2104 in multiple Phase IIa clinical trials in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, inflammation and cardiovascular disease."
Granted, their research is oriented toward treatment of specific diseases but they happen to be those most commonly associated with the degenerative processes implicated with aging.
GAry 7
51 guys that work for the FDA ... No one is ever going to listen to anything that an american scientist has to say because we know who pulls your strings little puppet. How can any human being live their life being a puppet for anyone??? Cowardly humans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree 100% and disagree as well! But there is the exception to every rule, is that the existence of an
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisexception is in some way evidence that the rule exists!!!
I respect what the Scientists have to say, yes I agree
on the anti aging products! But read every word, the
clues esp. about genes, health, "cells", and saying's
(quote them: We live longer now not because we have altered the way we age but because we have altered the way we live.)
The point I got from this is: no skin care product works
its about the body and brain within itself PERIOD!!!
Aging predisposes cells, tissues and organs to the diseases of aging. Experiments, particularly the parabiosis studies of the Conboys, et al, the recent work of Villeda et al. restoring mental functioning to aged rats, the validation that changing a cell into induced pleuripotent stem cell fully rejuvenates it, even when starting with the cells of centenarians, the knowledge that the nucleus of a senescent cell can provide complete information for the birth of perfectly normal cows - all show that aging is not the result of the accumulation of 'wear and tear' but a programmed process that can be reversed. The cellular age-phenotype can be reset - and we know how to do it. Does this mean eternal youth is 'just around the corner'? Maybe.
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